Independence Days Challenge: 02-03-2012

Well, this is update number one for IDC. Of course, this is the short week as the IDC just started Wednesday (and I wasn't sure if this Friday was the first post or next week...either way I have a few tasks and challenges to contribute this week). Next week will be better. I will be planting more seeds, learning TWO new skills (well, refresher you could say on one), and probably canning something!

This week:

Plant Something: I planted asparagus, rhubarb, broccoli and cauliflower seeds and they are now in my warm and sunny office. I hope they sprout as it is older seed (I cleaned out my seed storage and am testing and purging old seed-a lot more to go).

Harvest Something: We found four eggs in the big barn (Lyndon has great egg spotting eyes). Sadly, the chickens are laying all over the place due to coop damage last month (we had 60 MPH winds that also pushed down several trees-more on that in a minute). Nothing plant wise yet.

Preserve Something: Not this week, but maybe this weekend which will be on next week's IDC list.

Waste Not: Fixed the old compost bin an X built for me. It's been going strong since 1999! Scraps to chickens is normal event. I rotated (self)canned goods in pantry so older stuff is in front. Found and cleaned all the old seedling pots I have saved or stored (in barn, garage or house) and see I do not need to purchase any (except the 2 I bought down in Louisville) this year. On the same topic, I collected a bunch of insulated coffee cups from the DH car (he's a total slob) to use for seed starting. This is from the recent past, but I have a stack of yogurt cups for the seeds as well. The seedling trays I found out in the barn should hold them all. In sad news, my MIL bought a 1/4 beef to can and freeze. She was telling me about it and said they planned to cut up the meat into chunks themselves (less cost). At first, she said it would have bones. I asked what her plans for the bones were and she said she didn't want them. I was excited. I could roast them and make nutritious bone broth. However, she said that she had the butcher debone the meat and wasn't taking the bones.

Want Not: I have been on a bit of a "no spend" since the start of 2012 and am doing fairly well. I have not purchased anything beyond necessity or for spring planting. I did add Roasted Green Tea, star anise, and a spice mix (cinnamon, cumin, anise and clove) and sweet basil seed to the pantry. I bought these at a small 'mom and pop' Asian store in KY. I also received many seeds in the mail this week. I ordered most of them from very little businesses. I hope they are good (all heirlooms, but I will later buy hybrid tomatoes and green pepper plants for garden gaps from the IN Amish). I bought mostly heirloom tomatoes and hot peppers (Peter's Pepper, fish, and some others I can't remember off hand), and a smaller variety of other heirloom seeds (zucchini, cucumbers, beans, ect.) I also order bare root trees, three apples to replace the two mature ones we lost in the winds, two hazelnuts, and two raspberry plants (these will arrive in April).

I also surveyed all the damage the winds and heavy, wet snow caused. DH started to cut up the trees (despite never listening to me say I planned to order mushroom span. Sigh) and I requested long enough poles from the branches to use as trellis for beans and vines. He broke our chainsaw (and I just paid $60 to have it tuned up and sharpened) and I am not sure if it can be fixed. Can you tell I'm unhappy with him right now? He constantly sets us back 5 steps for every one we manage. One of the trees was a very nice apple tree (and a less nice one fell as well). It really looked healthy so its a bit sad. There was also damage to the chicken coop's yard fence and will need to be fixed. I am planning on painting the coop and putting in a rock "patio" in the front in order to cut down on the mud, so maybe the revamp is a blessing in disguise. We are taking out the floor and switching to a deep mulching method. This method requires deep layers of wood chips and each year it naturally composts the litter for the garden, but keeps the top nice and dry and clean for the hens (and rooster). I think it would be best for the yard which is often a mud pit and I am hoping it alleviates the stress of cleaning it with our harried schedules.

Eat the Food: Well, since today was my first full day home (in Indiana), I made eggs for breakfast and lunch. Tonight, we had a Thai inspired stir-fry, but the only item in it I can say is part of this challenge was an older jar of green beans I threw in.

Build a sustainable Community: Not much to report here (yet). Stay tuned for next week!

Skill Up: Again, next week will be more exciting here! However, I am always reading blogs and books and other items to learn. In fact, I did read about the deep mulching technique this past week, but I can't remember if it was in one of the three-4 books I'm reading or the 'net. Beyond that, I will try to be more specific in the future.

Are you playing along? It's easy!

Goals Week 3: Woe

1. Move: in at least three workouts (hotel has fitness room and pool). Twice
2. Budget: Start getting tax items together (make my yearly checkoff list)-nope
3. Learn: Read gardening books-some
4. Complete: finish all outstanding reports for work (these are different from files). :(
5. Sustain: Look online for potential jobs/update resume (a lot more on this later). no

Um, yea...I failed on all goal accounts last week. It ended up being a long, stressful, wintery, and tiring week. I did go to the gym twice, but, otherwise, I can't say I did much else. So, I will just carry it over to this week. I am skipping the other one I'm doing this week.

Motivation seems to be a huge factor for me when it comes to any task. This has not always been the case; generally, if I have an interest I plow full-steam into it, but if I have to do something I do the best I can anyway. Jobs have always been this way for me: I am highly productive, high achiever, and have always tried to be a top employee (e.g. volunteer a lot, participate, produce timely results, etc, etc). I've never had issues with discipline and have received many employment awards and accolades. My current job, however, seems to be really holding me back. Or maybe I should say: I am really holding back from my current job.

I tell myself I need to feel grateful to be employed, well-employed at that, and find something to love about the job. I can't believe how difficult this seems to be. I have a mean, self-centered supervisor who is causing great stress among her employees. And, for reasons I am unclear about, I seem to be fulfilling a self-made prophecy of pissing this boss off. I mean to say, a lot of what I am (not) doing (quickly enough) is the cause of the stress. I think I am being subconsciously passive aggressive. Dumb (on my part).

I have today off because I worked through Saturday this week (travel). Boss likes to bark orders and I tried to complete her order, but had some technical difficulties that IT is still working on. She is unhappy I didn't just jump when she said it. I just have never been able to work for people like this woman. Really, who can be motivated when you are constantly belittled, patronized, mistrusted and ragged upon? On the other hand, I am starting to slightly believe that the universe is conspiring to make everything hard (f-ing computer and f-ing security and f-ing bad luck).

Of course, I cannot give up as much as I want to. Sure, I want to go home. I am tired of Louisville. I am tired of micro-management. I am tired of a job that is slowly being phased out (making achievements few and far between to the chagrin of the boss). I am tired of feeling so damn unhappy. However, financially I am still getting us to a 'safe place'.

I look at the want ads back home now and then and I'm not seeing much else. I have to tough this out for now. Meanwhile, I need to find coping methods. It's been many, many years since I despised a job. I despise this job.

Oranges/Face

As anyone living closest to a small city (i.e. less than 10,000) knows, buying local in the dead of winter is hard. Very hard. We do have a great farmer's market starting in late spring through October and all sellers must have grown their produce in our county. I try to shop there or another nearby county to the north of us (Amish markets) for most of my summer produce needs. My biggest exception: citrus.

For reasons unknown to me, I have been craving citrus all winter. I can't get enough. While I love grapefruit, Satsumas, and oranges, I can't say I have ever craved them with such an intensity. I am guessing my body lacks or needs something and citrus is meeting that need.

For the most part, I buy most of my citrus from Trader Joe's or a fruit market in Louisville. I like their selections of less common varieties and the prices (especially at the former) for organic is great. However, I also shop at the Big Stores. You know which ones I am referring to (basically, my only choices in the small city).

So, I am getting around to my story here. Today I saw that one of the Bigs had blood oranges. Wow, and at a great price! I love blood oranges. I decided to try following Tigress in a Jam's Can Jam Challenge (informally, as this one was from 2010) and make blood orange marmalade. Of course, the Big did not have the blood oranges they advertised, so I bought a bag of Cara Cara oranges and Ugli fruit instead. While checking out, the cashier and I were talking about the citrus and she tells me she used to work in produce at a supermarket that was once in town (long ago bought up by one of the Bigs). She told me when she came to work for Big she tried produce, but was soon placed on cashiering. She told me she asked them if she could do both (she's experienced, mind you), but they told her no. Instead, the Big store cut her after holidays hours down to 14. Yes, fourteen hours and she is the main wage earner in her family. She told me she had almost paid off her trailer, but then they cut her hours and now she is afraid she is going to lose it. She is falling further and further behind.

Now I understand the need for businesses to cut back when business slows, but this place is the only Big store in town (they definitely have the monopoly) and it is almost always busy (unless you are there in the middle of the night or early in the morning). Fourteen hours at probably barely minimum wage? She said, 'I work really hard..." in a voice like she was pleading with me to understand her plight or just make me believe she really wants the work. I can't imagine how she must feel to check out all the shit we buy. But then, the shit is giving her 14 hours (said with a sarcastic tone).

Really sad. I wish my patronage to the business counted for something towards it's workers. They say these Bigs make jobs. Really? Quite frankly, I think the majority of us are just screwed by the Bigs: higher prices, less choices, less hours for the workers, higher profits for that abstract face behind the curtain.